The Fairy-Tale Detectives
by chocolate crazed lunatic
Summary: While Jake and Puck are out exploring the world, they come across an unidentified magical item. So of course Puck has to mess with it. And this is the series of events that leads the Grimms to be trapped in Granny Relda's house. And the only way out as reading a series of books. Book One.
1. Prologue

**Story:** The Fairy-Tale Detectives

 **Author:** chocolate crazed lunatic

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre:** Humor, hurt/comfort, family, romance and friendship

 **Chapter:** Prologue

 **Warning:** I will be using concepts that are a little more mature than what the series had in it, but since the characters will all be a few years older, I think that it is both believable and acceptable.

 **Pairings:** All the pairings will be cannon!

 **Author's Note:** With the exception of this chapter, everything else will be in Sabrina's POV unless I tell you so.

 **Summary:** While Jake and Puck are out exploring the world, they come across an unidentified magical item. So of course Puck has to mess with it. And this is the series of events that leads the Grimms to be trapped in Granny Relda's house. And the only way out as reading a series of books. Book One.

 **Disclaimer:** Sisters Grimm isn't mine. Everything that is bolded below is owned by Michael Buckley, including the characters.

* * *

Puck tip-toed around Jake, carefully, as not to wake him up. Puck had thousands of years of pranking experience, but that was all meant nothing once his body began to betray him. After growth spurts (how he hated them), Puck was unusually clumsy where he would normally be graceful.

Despite his endless frustration at his newfound clumsiness, Puck's experience wasn't _completely_ worthless. He knew the ins and outs of pranking, and _borrowing_ (it wasn't stealing if he was going to give it back) something from Jake's bag? Piece of cake.

Five minutes later, Puck had finished throwing everything that he dumped out of Jake's bag back into it. Of course the thing was enlarged on the inside. He had been living with Jake for five years. He had seen Jake put countless things into that, and take out many things that were perhaps just a little too large for the bag. Why hadn't he realized that it was enlarged on the inside?

But none of that mattered. In his hands, Puck held the Strange Magical Thing that he and Jake had found earlier that month. After tracking down Baba Yaga, Bunny, Morgan le Fay, and various other witches, the two still didn't know what it did.

Puck was Curious (yes, with a capital C). He turned the Thing over in his hands. At first glance it didn't look like much, only a bumpy misshapen cube, but there was a well concealed power hidden within it thrumming beneath his fingertips.

It wanted out.

There were only two things that Puck knew about the Strange Magical Thing.

a) Nobody knew anything about it, not even Baba Yaga, who was awesome and knew everything

b) It had a button tucked inside it that all the adults were too afraid to press incase it blew up and destroyed the whole earth or something equally as cool

 _But,_ a voice in his head that sounded like that annoying Grimm, _we_ just _saved the world. Don't you_ dare _go mess it up again._

 _Shut up,_ Puck told it. Just to be defiant and make the voice mad, Puck pressed the button before he could think.

The smug smile slid off his face. Nothing was happening. Puck shook the Strange Magical Thing, hoping that something, _anything,_ would happen that would just shut up Sabrina Grimm's voice laughing in his head.

Then something did start to happen. A pale glow appeared at the edges of the cube. It was soft, almost so weak that Puck didn't notice it. Soon, the glow overtook, the whole cube, then the got brighter and brighter and so bright that Puck had to shield his eyes.

"PUCK WHAT DID YOU DO?" Jake shouted. His voice was probably loud against the quiet of the forest they had been camping out in, but Puck could barely hear it over the his blood rushing in his ears.

"I PRESSED THE BUTTON AND NOW WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE, SORRY!" Puck yelled back. Puck felt Jake blindly reach out and grasp onto his arm, squeezing so tight that he thought he might have lost circulation in his hand.

"Puck," Jake said, deathly quiet, and part of Puck was surprised that he could still hear him, "If doesn't kill us, I'm going to kill _you._ "

And then the light faded. They weren't in the forest anymore. Instead the stood in a very familiar house, rebuilt from the war, just the same as it had been before. Piles of books were stacked in a disorganized mess.

They were in the Old Lady's house.

And there, right in the middle of the living room, was Sabrina Grimm stared at them, jaw slack.

Puck felt his tummy flip flop, and ignored it. Sabrina looked different. Not a bad different, but still she was no longer twelve. Her blonde hair, which had always been a bit on the curly side was held up in a loose bun and her eyes were even bluer than he had remembered them. She looked beautiful.

It had been five years since Puck had seen Sabrina. He left with her uncle, had even promised that he would drop by and see her every once and awhile, but he never had. Sabrina Grimm had made him grow up. He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

Slowly, carefully, Sabrina bent down and picked something off the floor. A phone. "Hey, Michael? I'll have to call you back. My dog got into the sausages."

She hung up and dropped her phone onto the couch. She slowly backed out of the room, as though they were wild animals and she didn't want to startle them.

This effect was ruined when Sabrina started shouting once she was out of eyesight. "MOM! DAD! GRANNY! MR. CANIS!"

Puck and Jake traded a look. Jake unclasped his hand from Puck's elbow.

Henry walked into the room, Sabrina, trailing behind him. "Tell me you see what I see," she demanded.

Henry blinked at them in shock. Puck gave an awkward wave, before regaining his confidence. "Hiya Ugly. Miss me?"

Sabrina snorted. "Yeah, that's Puck alright. What're you doing here, Stinkpot?"

Puck smirked, glad that they settled back into their old routine so easily.

Veronica rushed into the room holding Basil in her arms, followed by Daphne, Red and Elvis. The Old Man and the Old Lady followed them at a slower pace.

"What's wrong?" Veronica demanded. "I heard - Oh! Jake! Puck!" She set her youngest down once she realized that there wasn't any danger.

"PUCK! UNCLE JAKE!" Daphne screamed and pulled them into huge hugs.

"Marshmallow!" Puck laughed. "How old are you? I swear it was just yesterday that you were half that height!"

Daphne puffed her chest up proudly. "I'm twelve!"

The Old Lady came up to them and pressed a kiss to both of their cheeks. "Oh my, how I'm glad you're back!"

Jake smiled. "Hi mom."

Elvis followed by Red came to them next. Jake affectionately mussed Red's hair while Elvis tackled Puck.

Basil pointed at them from beside his mother. "Who're they?"

"That's your Uncle Jake and Puck!" Veronica said smiling.

"Uncle Jake and Puck," Basil said, nodding.

Throughout all of this, Puck remained hyper aware of Sabrina, who hung back at the edge of the crowd but kept her eyes on him and Jake, a small smile on her face. It made something in his heart pull to see her happy to see him.

Henry shook his head. "As much as I'm glad to see you two, I have to ask how did you get here?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Sabrina muttered.

Jake glared at Puck and he had to fight down the urge to blush. "Puck here decided that it would be a great idea to mess around with unknown magical items."

"In my defence," Puck said, "I only thought that it would explode."

The Old Lady shook her head disapprovingly at Puck. With a sigh, she said, "Hand them over then."

 _Them?_ There was only one Strange Magical Thing in his hands. Just to make sure, Puck checked what he was holding, thinking that the Old Lady simply need some glasses.

The Old Lady didn't need any glasses. In his hands he held nine books and a note.

Puck made a disgusted noise at the back of his throat and dropped them.

"Puck!" Jake yelped. He knelt down and picked the books and the note up. "Strange," he muttered.

"What?" Henry asked.

"It wasn't books before," Jake explained. "It was a weird cube shape… Henry, hold these, I'll read the note," Jake said, passing the books to Henry.

" _To whom it may concern,_

 _You have pressed the button on my invention. Currently, you are trapped in the most important place to you with the people that are most important to you. You may have noticed that my invention has been replaced by (a) book(s). If you haven't, then you need to amp up your observation skills. Out of all of the people in the place that you happen to be in, there is one that happens to be the most important to you. That person has the honour of having the book(s) shown from their point of view. The books will take place during the most important phases of their life, no matter past or future. There will be things to discover along the way, but I will leave that for you to figure out._

 _With love,_

 _The inventor_

 _P.S. You won't be able to leave until you read all the books._ "

"Wonderful. Thank's Puck," Sabrina said. "We're stuck here until we finish all of these books."

"Getting blown up would have been way cooler," Puck complained, ignoring her.

Daphne clapped her hands together, the sound sharp enough to cut through the clamour of everybody talking at once. "Think of how cool this will be! You'll all get to see the world from Sabrina's view! Dad, you're always complaining that you doesn't understand her, so this will be the perfect chance for you to see what she's thinking!"

Sabrina flushed. "Hold it! What makes you think that the books will be from my point of view!"

Everybody gave her incredulous looks, even as Puck turned as red as Sabrina.

"We might as well get this over with," the Old Man said, speaking up for the first time. "I suppose I will read first."

Henry shifted through the books for a moment, before handing the Old man the first book. The family all chose a place to sit, the adults grabbing the couch and the chairs, which Puck found highly unfair, while the other kids pulled out some beanbags that Puck hadn't realized were even in the room. Sabrina handed him a green one and set down another between herself and Daphne for Basil. Elvis sprawled across the ground between the couch and the bean bags.

Once they were finished getting comfortable, the Old Man began to read.

 **The Fairy-Tale Detectives.**

"Is that the title of the book?" Red asked.

The Old Man nodded. "As far as I can tell, yes."

 **The dense forest branches scratched at their faces and arms, but Sabrina and Daphne couldn't stop running, thought they had long since passed the point of exhaustion. Fear was fueling each step now.**

"Wait, wait," Veronica said, "Sorry for interrupting, but what the heck is going on?"

Sabrina and Daphne traded looks before shrugging. Sabrina replied, "Honestly, that could be any point in our lives after you disappeared. But since this is the first book, then I'd say it's our first case."

"Which would mean we're running from a giant," Daphne said casually.

Puck smirked at the looks on their parents faces.

 **Another thunderous bellow rang in the distance, followed by the terrible sound of falling trees and shrieking animals.**

"Yup, definitely the giant," Daphne nodded.

" **We have to find a way to stop it," Daphne cried between gasps.**

 **Sabrina knew her little sister was right. But how? They were two children versus a vicious monster.**

" **I'll think of something," Sabrina said, dragging her sister behind an enormous oak tree for a much needed rest. Sabrina squeezed her sister's hand to reassure her, while she forced oxygen into her own burning lungs. Her words were empty. She didn't have a plan.**

Sabrina frowned and pressed a hand to her ribs, taking deep breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Daphne doing the same. Frowning, he wondered what was up with them.

"But I thought you always had a plan," Basil said innocently.

"You're right," Sabrina said, poking him in the stomach. Basil laughed. "I usually do have a plan. I was just having an off day."

Puck watched the interaction and absently wondered if Sabrina was always that good with kids.

 **The only thing that was going on in her head was the thumping of blood roaring through her eardrums. But it made no difference. It had found them. Splintering wood and damp soil rained from the sky as the tree they stood next to was violently uprooted.**

Henry hissed a breath through his teeth and turned to glare at the Old Lady. "Why were they being chased by a giant with nobody to protect them, exactly?"

"Oh Henry, stop worrying. This is over and the girl's are fine. We've already told you this story, don't you remember?" the Old Lady scolded.

 **The two girls looked up to the horrible face above them and felt hot breath blow through their hair.**

 _ **What's happened to our lives?**_ **Sabrina wondered. When had their world become unrecognizable? What had happened to her, the eleven year old girl who had only two days ago just been an orphan on a train?**

The Old Man set the book down, "That is the ending of the prologue."

"That was so _loooong,_ " Puck groaned, sinking into the bean bag. "Is the prologue the longest part of the story?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes at him. "No, the prologue is usually the shortest part. We have a long way to go, Stinkpot."


	2. Chapter 1

**Story:** The Fairy-Tale Detectives

 **Author:** chocolate crazed lunatic

 **Rating:** T

 **Genre:** Humor, hurt/comfort, family, romance and friendship

 **Chapter:** Chapter One

 **Warning:** I will be using concepts that are a little more mature than what the series had in it, but since the characters will all be a few years older, I think that it is both believable and acceptable.

 **Pairings:** All the pairings will be cannon!

 **Author's Note:** How is it that this story currently has more reviews than favourites/follows? Seriously, I'm flattered but ? How does that happen? Also, I'm super sorry for not updating in like, forever. I may have told some of you that I would update soon, but honestly I'm really bad at updating. Sorry!

 **Summary:** While Jake and Puck are out exploring the world, they come across an unidentified magical item. So of course Puck has to mess with it. And this is the series of events that leads the Grimms to be trapped in Granny Relda's house. And the only way out as reading a series of books.

 **Disclaimer:** Sisters Grimm isn't mine. Everything that is bolded below is owned by Michael Buckley, including the characters.

* * *

Veronica frowned, clearly worried. Henry was rubbing her back, but he too was very tense. "I'll read next," her mother said. "I want to know what's going on."

Sabrina sighed. She and Daphne may have told their parents a lot about what went on when they were asleep, but they didn't tell them _everything._ If their parents knew what kind of danger Sabrina and Daphne had gotten into they would never be allowed out of the house. From the look on Daphne's face, she understood this too.

Sabrina looked over at Puck, waiting to see if he would take the chance to mock her. But instead, he was staring at the book in Veronica's hands with an intensity that he usually only reserved for pranking materials.

It seemed that Puck had matured in more ways than one, Sabrina thought, a blush turning her cheeks bright red. She forced it away and felt horrified with herself. She hadn't felt this way about anybody since she was twelve.

Uncle Jake's and Puck's sudden appearance in the house wasn't the only thing that had surprised her. She hadn't seen Puck in five years, not even a picture. She had almost expected him to look the same as when he left, a cute but begrudgingly twelve year old boy with no sense of hygiene. Instead she got a hot as hell seventeen year old who had hygiene good enough that Sabrina couldn't smell him from where she was sitting.

 **Two Days Ago**

 _ **I'm going to die of boredom here,**_ **Sabrina Grimm thought as she looked out the train window at Ferryport Landing, New York.**

"Well that's a big change," Puck said. "We went from Marshmallow and Ugly almost kicking the bucket to boring old Sabrina Grimm."

"The story has to start somewhere," Daphne pointed out. "It can't just be us defeating the giant, it has to give backstory first."

Sabrina rolled her eyes at him, inwardly smiling proudly at Daphne. She had grown so much. "I'm sorry the prospect of gaining endless amounts of blackmail on me from reading this isn't exciting enough for you."

Puck blinked, the surprised look at Daphne's words sliding off his face, before a large grin came over his face. "Ugly's right for once! Maybe these books _are_ good for something!"

Sabrina frowned grumpily at him. God knows she loved a good fight, verbal or otherwise, but she hated not being able to have a comeback. Made her feel as though she had just lost a small battle of sorts.

 **The little town in the distance seemed to be mostly hills and trees next to the cold, gray Hudson River. A few two- and three-story brownstone buildings huddled around what appeared to be the town's only street. Beyond it were endless acres of evergreen forest. Sabrina could see no movie theaters, malls, or museums, and felt using the word town to describe Ferryport Landing was a bit of a stretch.**

Daphne scowled at Sabrina. "Hey! Just because Ferryport Landing isn't as big as New York City doesn't mean it's any less awesome! In fact, Ferryport Landing is the awesomest!"

Sabrina frowned. "Ferryport Landing has more excitement than New York City could ever hope to have. I just didn't know that at the time."

 **Worse than the town was the weather. It was raining, and rain always made Sabrina melancholy. She tucked her long blond hair behind her ear and turned her head away from the window, promising herself that she would be strong and not let her sister see her cry. She had to be the strong one; after all, she was almost twelve years old.**

Veronica looked sad as she red this and grasped onto Henry's hand. "Oh sweetheart," she whispered.

There was a long moment of silence where everybody took in that statement. Daphne turned to Sabrina with wide eyes, looking as though she had been hit in the face with a frying pan.

Sabrina flushed and pressed her lips together. If finally sunk in that the book would reveal every embarrassing little thing that she had experienced from arriving at Ferryport Landing to probably the end of the war. _Every little thing from the war._ Sabrina suddenly had trouble breathing. She didn't _want_ to relive that. She already had enough nightmares of it.

Sabrina jumped when Puck placed his hand on her shoulder. He was looking concerned, and Sabrina mentally snorted. _This is_ your _fault, Freak Baby,_ she wanted to tell him. Instead she gave him a smile that turned out as a grimace.

Basil was the one who broke the silence by climbing into Sabrina's lap and giving her a large hug. As always, she was surprised at his weight. She always forgot that he was seven now, the age that Daphne was when they met Granny Relda. Even though Sabrina had done her best to protect her, it was painfully obvious that Basil maintained so much more of his innocence than she had at this age. Daphne may still be naive, but you can't undo experience. And foster care and war is nothing if not an experience.

"It's ok!" the little boy said. "Sabs doesn't have to cry! I love you!"

Sabrina gave a pained smile. "You're right Basil. I don't have anything to cry about anymore."

Sabrina loved her brother more than anything in the world. The little boy must have some special magical power of empathy because he always sensed when she was about to break down, and he always knew how to say something while everybody else floundered for words. She already knew that she was fucked up, but people looking for something to say that wouldn't set her off always made her that much closer to having a breakdown.

Basil settled down on her lap and Sabrina wrapped her arms around him, wishing that he would keep his childish innocence forever.

 **Not that Daphne would have noticed her tears.**

Daphne shot a guilty look at her sister. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Sabrina shook her head at her, "It's OK. I didn't want you to notice."

Daphne shook her head in return. "That doesn't make it OK."

 **Sabrina's seven-year-old sister had had her face pressed against the window throughout the two-hour trip. Daphne had marveled at each ugly little spot on the map they rolled through, taking a break from the view only to ask the occasional question about their destination.**

 **"Do they have bagels in Ferryport Landing, Ms. Smirt?" Daphne now asked the woman sitting across from them.**

"Uck," both of the girls muttered at the same time.

"What?" Puck exclaimed, shocked. "That lady was awesome!"

Sabrina shot him an angry glare, but let it go. Puck was like that. She had matured from when she was twelve. She _wouldn't_ get into as many pointless, immature fights with Puck as she did five years ago. _She wouldn't._

Daphne turned her nose up at him. "You only met her once. You didn't get to see how awful she was!"

"Ms. Smirt was your caseworker from the orphanage, correct?" Henry asked.

Sabrina scowled. "Yeah. She hated us."

Granny Relda frowned. "She was a little… forceful."

"Well you know she's bad if mom doesn't like her," Uncle Jake joked.

 **Ms. Minerva Smirt was the girls' caseworker. She was a pinch-lipped, humorless woman in her late fifties. She had had her hooked nose buried in a book for the entire train ride. Sabrina knew she was reading only so she wouldn't have to talk to them. Ms. Smirt looked up at Daphne with an annoyed scowl and sighed as if the question was more than she could bear.**

Henry raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Is that how she treated you all the time?"

"That's not even the worst of it," Daphne told him.

"You should have seen her in a bad mood," Sabrina added.

"I really do not like this woman," Veronica said, having read a little further down the page as they were talking.

"She doesn't sound very nice," Red said, speaking up for the first time.

Sabrina shook her head. "She really wasn't."

"Smirt's a meanie!" Basil exclaimed.

All of the others laughed, and Basil beamed, proud that he was funny enough to induce a reaction like that.

 **"Of course they have bagels. They have bagels everywhere," Ms. Smirt snapped.**

Uncle Jake shook his head. "That is not how you're supposed to treat seven year olds."

Elvis barked in agreement.

"Yeah!" Daphne agreed. "Why do you think I liked this place so much when we got here!"

"The food," Sabrina deadpanned.

"The food _is_ very good," Puck muttered.

Granny Relda looked faintly amused at Sabrina's comment, "Because I treated you the way children are supposed to be treated."

 **"Not on the moon," Daphne replied matter-of-factly as she returned her gaze to the window.**

 **Ms. Smirt snarled, which caused Sabrina to snicker. Watching Daphne drive Ms. Smirt crazy was one of Sabrina's favorite pastimes.**

"Driving her crazy was definitely one of mine," Daphne declared. "She was so mean to everybody! Why couldn't she just chil?"

Sabrina scoffed. "What makes you think that it was possible for her to chill?"

 **Smirt had made a mistake when she chose a career working with children, Sabrina thought, especially since she didn't seem to like them. Ms. Smirt complained whenever she had to touch their sticky hands or wipe their runny noses, and reading bedtime stories was completely out of the question.**

"But isn't that exactly what you're supposed to do?" Red asked.

"When you're working with kids, especially those in an orphanage, you need to take a lot of care with them because many have many problems with mental health issues," Sabrina said. "Unfortunately, orphanages are crap and the people there are even worse."

Basil gasped. "Sabs said a bad word!"

"Sabrina!" Henry scolded.

"What?" Sabrina snapped, the familiar feeling of anger, red and hot, rushing through her. "It's true. And it's not like _you_ ever had to live in one."

"Sabrina, sweetheart," Veronica said soothingly. "We know that this may be bringing up some bad memories-"

"Yeah," Sabrina cut her off, still angry but not wanting anybody to see it. "I'm ok. Sorry."

Puck leaned over to her. "What was that about Grimm?"

Sabrina scowled at him. She could already feel her patience for this whole thing slipping, and the fact that Puck existed and was in her presence was rubbing her the wrong way. "Nothing."

 **She seemed to especially dislike the Grimm sisters and had labeled them rude, uncooperative, and a couple of know-it-alls. So, Sabrina was sure it was Ms. Smirt's personal mission to get the girls out of the orphanage and into a foster home. So far she had failed miserably. She'd sent them to live with people who were usually mean and occasionally crazy, and who had used them as maids, house sitters, or just plain ignored them.**

Henry glared at the book. "Are we going to hear stories about these people? I'd quite like to have a word with them."

Sabrina hugged Basil tighter against her. The little boy was starting to squirm so she ignored everybody else in favour of him. "Hey Basil, how you doing?"

"I'm bored," he complained. "Mommy's only reads a book before bedtime, and it's not bedtime so why is she reading a book? And why's it about you 'n Daphy?"

Sabrina played with his soft hair. "This is a book about us from when you were just a little baby, so Mom wants to read it very badly. You know how she and Dad were gone for a while and Daphne and I were left alone?"

Basil nodded. "Uh-huh!"

Sabrina smiled gently. "Well they were gone, they didn't know anything that was happening with me and Daphne, so they really want to know now. Is it ok that we read it?"

Basil thought for a moment. "It's ok," he allowed. "Since Mommy and Daddy really want to read it."

Sabrina smiled. Basil's innocence and unconditional love for everybody always made her feel much better. She didn't feel quite so anxious or angry anymore.

 **But this time she had gone too far. This time Ms. Smirt was sending them to live with a dead woman.**

"What?" Red asked, shocked. "Did that really happen?"

Sabrina laughed, "No, no, our dad told us that Granny Relda died, remember? We thought that she wasn't really our grandma."

Red flushed. "Oh right. I didn't think of that."

Sabrina smiled. "It's alright. It's been a few years since that's been brought up anyways. It's fine if you don't remember."

Puck was looking at her in a considering way, probably remembering the times when Sabrina treated Red like crap. It was expected for her to grow while he was gone. Did he just think that when he came back she would be exactly the same? If he did, he certainly had a rude awakening in for him.

 **"I hope you don't bother your grandmother with all these ridiculous questions!" Ms. Smirt said curtly, which was how she said most things to Sabrina and Daphne. "She is old and cannot handle a lot of trouble."**

There was a long moment of silence before everybody burst into laughter.

Veronica shook her head, gasping through her laughter, "I can't believe she said that!"

Daphne giggled, "I forgot she said that! Granny Relda can handle anything!"

"Except for me!" Puck added. "I'm too much trouble for anybody to handle."

"Nuh-huh," Basil said stubbornly. "Granny could too handle you. If Granny can tell Daddy what to do, then she can tell anybody what to do! Just not Mommy. And sometimes Sabs because she doesn't listen. But everybody else!"

This set the family off again. Basil didn't know why they were laughing so he just laughed along with them.

Once they calmed down, Veronica begin reading once again.

 **"She's dead! I've already told you a million times, our grandmother is dead!" said Sabrina.**

 **"We did a background check, Sally," Ms. Smirt replied. "She is who she says she is."**

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "I always hated it when she did that. She always got our names wrong on purpose."

"Yeah she always got them right when we were in trouble," Daphne added her two cents.

"That could have a very bad affect on kids struggling with mental health," Red frowned. "To take away their names like that is pretty much stripping their identity away."

Sabrina nodded solemnly. "It really messed some of the kids up. Sometimes their name was the only thing that they had left of the life that they had before. Sometimes their name was the only sign that somebody ever cared for them. Daphne and I were very lucky that we got to stay together."

Sabrina's parents held on to each other's hands. "Oh sweetheart," Veronica whispered.

From beside her, Sabrina could see Puck looking at her oddly. Sabrina blew out a frustrated breath. Puck had never heard her speak much about her time in the orphanage, so this was probably very new for him. Honestly, the boy had seen how messed up she was when they first met, what did he expect? Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows?

 **"My name is Sabrina." Sabrina sighed.**

 **"Whatever. The orphanage would not release you into just anyone's custody," said Ms. Smirt.**

"Oh yeah?" Daphne challenged. "How about literally everybody you sent us to before Granny Relda and that one guy you tried to send us to after?"

Basil twisted so that he could look up at Sabrina. "What does literally mean?" He stumbled over the new word a little.

"In the way that Daphne said it, she just means to say that everybody meanie Ms. Smirt sent us to weren't very good people," Sabrina replied easily. Basil nodded and yawned, and Sabrina shifted so that she would be a more comfortable resting place for when he inevitably fell asleep in a few minutes.

"Geez Grimm, did you swallow a dictionary?" Puck asked. "First Marshmallow, now Junior, do you know the definiton of everything?"

"There are a few definitions of everything depending on the context. In what way do you want it?" Sabrina asked with a straight face, faking innocence.

Puck threw his hands in the air. "You know what I meant!"

 **"Oh really? How about Ms. Longdon, who swore her toilet was haunted?" said Sabrina.**

 **"Everyone has their quirks."**

"They sent us to a woman who was suffering from schizophrenia," Sabrina said.

"She tried to sacrifice us to the toilet," Daphne shuddered. "And she never cleaned it either."

"I want to meet this woman," Puck declared.

Henry and Veronica shared concerned glances.

 **"Or Mr. Dennison, who made us sleep in his truck?" Daphne chimed in.**

"No heater and at night it was very cold," Daphne said.

"I stole the keys and locked ourselves in it until he got so frustrated that he went back inside to get something to smash the windows. When he was looking, we unlocked the door and ran," Sabrina told them.

 **"Some people love the great outdoors."**

 **"Mr. and Mrs. Johnson handcuffed us to a radiator!" Sabrina cried.**

Sabrina's mom's voice grew angrier and angrier as she spoke, until she was nearly spitting the words out.

In contrast to Veronica, her dad's voice was cold and calm, "She dismissed all of the bad things you went through just like that?"

Sabrina shifted uncomfortably, mindful of Basil who had fallen asleep against her. "Yes. And then she just sent us to places just as bad as the ones before, knowing that they would be bad and knowing what would happen. She did it for all the other kids too."

 **"Dwell on the negative if you choose," said Ms. Smirt. "But you should be grateful. There is not much of a demand for rude little girls. Imagine how embarrassed I was when I heard what you said to the Keatons!"**

"Oh God, what did _they_ do," Uncle Jake said glaring.

"Man I didn't know being in an orphanage allowed you to meet all these awesome people!" Puck exclaimed, but it was said without it's usual exuberance. Sabrina could clearly see that Puck was struggling to remain unaffected by how they had been treated in foster care.

 **"They locked us in their house for two weeks so they could go on a cruise to Bora-Bora," Sabrina said.**

"What?" Mr. Canis growled. "I don't think I heard that correctly. Did you just say that the girls had been locked in a house for two whole weeks while their caregivers were out on vacation?"

Granny Relda was gripping the armrest on her chair so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. "Yes old friend, I believe that she did," she turned to Henry. "I too would like to meet the people that had so _generously_ taken care of my granddaughters while we couldn't."

"Oh yes," Uncle Jake agreed, a look of anger that when Sabrina was little had hoped she would never see again on his face. "I would quite like to meet them."

Daphne and Sabrina exchanged alarmed looks as their mother approved and Elvis growled in agreement.

"They sound that they would be _great_ targets… for pranks of course," Puck said. "I've come up with a few that Jake wouldn't allow me to test on anybody."

Even mild tempered Red was frowning. "Humans like those are awful. I'm very sorry that you had to go through that."

 **"I think it was the Bahamas," Daphne said.**

 **"It was Bermuda, and at least they brought you back some nice T-shirts from their trip," said Ms. Smirt.**

"I really hate this woman," Sabrina's mom hissed through her teeth.

 **"Anyway, it is all water under the bridge now. We found a real relative who is actually eager to take you into her home. But to be honest, girls, even if she was an imposter I would hand you over to her.**

Sabrina's dad stood up. "I need to take a break," he snarled, storming out of the room.

Veronica bookmarked and put the book down. She looked Sabrina and Daphne in the eyes before saying, "Girls you are saints for having to put up with that woman for so long. However, your father and I are not. I'd better go after him before he does destroys anything."

After she followed Henry out, Puck halfheartedly said, "Wow wouldn't it be great to go to somebody who was impersonating the Old Lady?"

Granny Relda abruptly stood. Puck flinched, probably thinking that he was going to get it for making one too many insensitive comments. Instead, Granny Relda announced, "I'm making lunch for anybody who wants it," and stiffly walked out of the room.

Mr. Canis and Uncle Jake traded concerned looks, "She's angry cooking," Uncle Jake whispered to him, quiet enough for Granny Relda not to hear but loud enough for the kids to. "You know what happens when she angry cooks. She almost killed Dad that one time."

Mr. Canis nodded. "It will take to two of us to stop her."

They both left quickly after that.

Red and Daphne's chatting filled up the silence of the room, but Puck had been unusually quiet throughout the whole chapter.

Sabrina looked at him and without any real heat to it said, "Happy you pressed the button now?"

"Hey at least I still have a shot for blackmail," Puck defended.

"But remember all the fascinating things that I learned about you?" Sabrina countered. "And don't forget all the things you did that I'm sure everybody would love to hear about."

Puck made a face at her, and Sabrina fought off the urge to laugh.

What a ridiculous situation she was in.

Anxiety inducing, triggering, extremely depressing once they got to the heavy stuff, and would probably cause her endless harassment from Puck once he discovered that she had PTSD. But still ultimately ridiculous.

It wasn't long after that Sabrina's parents showed up, still looking angry. But they gave Daphne and Sabrina huge hugs and settled back down.

"Where's Mom?" Henry asked.

"Right here," Granny Relda said walking into the room, followed by Uncle Jake and Mr. Canis, carrying a plate of purple cookies. She set them down on the coffee table. "I made food for anybody who want's a snack."

Daphne's and Puck's eyes connected and in a split second they were both crowded around the plate and stuffing food into their mouths.

Veronica picked the book back up and begin reading in a forced calm voice.

 **We have run out of families who want you." With that, Ms. Smirt put her nose back into her book. Sabrina looked up at the title. It was called How to Get the Love You Want.**

"What?" Daphne giggled. "I never noticed that!"

"Poor Ms. Smirt," Sabrina said dramatically, causing Daphne to burst into a fit of laughter. "Destined to never find love. But perhaps, if she just changed oh, I don't know… her whole personality, it would be a just a bit easier."

Veronica snorted. "You got that right."

 **"What's an imposter?" Daphne asked, not bothering to turn her head away from the view through the window.**

Sabrina smiled softly, remembering the times that Daphne always used to look to her for the definition of words she didn't know. Daphne rarely did that anymore, simply because she already knew the meaning to most words that were used in conversations.

 **"It means someone who is pretending to be someone she's not," Sabrina said as she watched the rain outside. It had been raining the day her parents disappeared. That was over a year and a half ago, but it still made her heart ache.**

Veronica looked like she might cry. Uncle Jake patted her on the back awkwardly, "There, there Ronnie. Look, she's fine now!"

Henry shot him a scathing look, whispering lowly so that the kids wouldn't hear. He didn't do a very good job of it, as Sabrina still could anyways. "Look Jake, I know some of this might be from the war, but Sabrina is suffering from some severe mental health issues. If you had bothered to look at the letters we sent you, you would have known that."

Sabrina could feel Puck's eyes slide on to her, and she knew that he had heard them too. Anxiety, depression and PTSD. She used to have Major Depressive Disorder, but she and her therapist had worked through that.

Uncle Jake looked like he had been struck in the face with a frying pan. His eyes darted to Sabrina and then back to his brother. "I'm sorry," he whispered hoarsely. "I was just…"

Henry held up a hand, stopping him from apologizing further. "Look," he sighed. "I know that you were trying to deal with your grief, but so were we. Everybody was affected by this war in some way, Jake."

The adults sat in silence for a moment, before Granny Relda said, "Chop chop! The more we read the faster it gets done and the sooner we can get out of this house!"

 **She remembered rushing home that afternoon with a report card safely tucked inside her raincoat. Excited about her As in math and English and her B in Science (and a little disappointed by her C-minus in gym),**

Henry raised an eyebrow, "What? But you usually got great grades in that class. What happened?"

Sabrina's mother elbowed him in the side and hissed, "Not the time."

Sabrina rolled her eyes and answered anyways, "I didn't cooperate well with the other kids."

 **she had proudly taped it to the refrigerator for everyone to see.**

"Why would you be proud about grades?" Puck asked, crinkling his nose.

"Because I get good ones," Sabrina shot back.

 **It had seemed odd that her parents weren't home from work, but Sabrina didn't worry until Daphne's kindergarten teacher called to find out why no one had picked up the little girl. That night the girls slept in their parents' bed, waiting for them to come home as thunder and lightning crashed in the sky around their apartment. When the social worker came three days later to take them away, it was still raining, and Sabrina's report card was still hanging on the refrigerator awaiting its praise. For all Sabrina knew, it was still there.**

As Veronica read this, tears started streaming down her face. Daphne ran to her side and hugged her tightly. "It's OK Mom!" the girl said. "It happened a long time ago!"

Henry gently took the book from her, and Veronica pulled Daphne onto her lap. Daphne had grown too big for this, but Veronica disregarded that. Sabrina hugged the sleeping body of her little brother tight against her as he emitted his tiny snores. Her dad started reading where Veronica had left off.

 **The police had started an investigation. They searched the family's New York City apartment for clues. They interviewed neighbors and coworkers. They dusted for fingerprints and filed reports, but they found nothing. Henry and Veronica Grimm had simply vanished into thin air. Months later the police found their abandoned car. The only clue was a blood-red handprint on the dashboard.**

As one, the whole room flinched. It had been many years since they had last seen a blood red handprint, but that was beyond the point. It was the memories associated with it that made them all go pale.

Before her parents went missing, red had been Sabrina's favorite colour. Now, she could barely look at it without having a near panic attack.

 **The police assured the girls that the print was not blood, only paint, but they still had no leads. Their investigation had come to a dead end. Meanwhile, the orphanage where the girls had been taken began an investigation of its own, searching for next-of-kin, but came up as empty as the police. No aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, sisters, or even distant twice-removed cousins existed. The girl's parents had always told them that they were all the family they would ever need. So naturally, the girls were shocked when a woman claiming to be "Grandma Grimm" applied for custody.**

Henry sweated nervously when the combined glares of his wife, his brother and his mother hit him.

"Don't need me, eh?" Uncle Jake muttered. "I'm the best uncle ever."

 **Now the train pulled into the station and Daphne turned away from the window, cupped her hand over Sabrina's ear, and whispered, "Do you think that she could really be our grandmother? Dad said she died before we were born."**

 **"Not a chance," Sabrina said as the train came to a stop. "Don't worry, we'll be gone before the crazy old bat knows what happened."**

Puck snickered. "Crazy Old Bat? I like it."

"Puck I draw the line at you calling me Old Lady," Granny Relda said sternly. "If I hear you say that to me, I am throwing out your collection of prank materials from the basement."

Instead of taking her threat seriously like Granny Relda wanted, Puck looked gleeful. "That stuff is still there? Sweet! I thought it was gone forever!" he turned to Sabrina with a wicked grin on his face. "You know what this means Piggy!"

Sabrina groaned. "Thanks Granny."

Granny Relda sighed and shook her head. "Puck leave Sabrina alone."

 **Passengers got up from their seats and took their bags down horn the luggage racks above. They tossed half-read newspapers onto the coffee-stained floor and headed for the doors. A conductor announced that Ferryport Landing was the last stop.**

 **"Ladies, let's go!" Ms. Smirt ordered, causing Sabrina's stomach to flip-flop. She didn't want to meet the imposter posing as her grandmother, but Ms. Smirt wasn't one to argue with. The old crone had a reputation as a pincher and she had left more than a few nasty purple bruises on back-talking orphans.**

"What?" Veronica hissed. She held Daphne by the shoulders and looked her over as though she would be able to see six year old bruises. She then turned to Sabrina and looked her over too. "Did she do this to you?"

"Eh," Daphne said. "Not as much to me."

"She really hated me," Sabrina finally said under the weight of her mother's stare.

"I will call the police on this woman," Veronica said. "There has to be somebody I will call about for abusive orphanage staff."

"Sure," Sabrina shrugged. "But another will just take their place," she turned to Daphne. "Do you remember Mr. Hue?"

Daphne shrugged, "Kinda but not really."

"What did he do?" Henry asked, knowing that he would dread the answer.

"He was the caseworker before Ms. Smirt," Sabrina answered. "We only had him for a week before he was fired. Got a little too friendly with some of the girls."

Everybody pulled disgusted faces at the news. Veronica looked incredibly angry. Daphne looked around, confused. "What does that mean?"

Nobody wanted to tell her, so Red sighed and said, "It means that he um…"

"It means that he did some things that he wasn't supposed to do with underage girls," Puck interrupted, looking disgusted himself. Sabrina wondered at that, since he was thousands of years old when he had kissed her. Biological age was probably a factor.

Still looking confused, Daphne said, "Ok."

 **Sabrina stood up on her seat, dragged their two tiny suitcases down from the storage racks above, and followed Ms. Smirt and Daphne off the train.**

 **The late November rain was bitingly cold. Daphne began to shiver, so Sabrina wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulders and held her tightly as they stood with Ms. Smirt on the crowded platform.**

Sabrina felt a chill go up her spine, and suddenly she was freezing. She wrapped her arms around herself and wondered why this was happening. Before, when they were reading the prologue, the book said that the girls had run out of breath and then Sabrina felt her lungs burning for air. Now, it said they were cold, and both Daphne and Sabrina were shivering. A theory, strange as it was, begin to form in her mind.

She was feeling everything that she felt in the book.

 **"When you meet her you had better be polite or there is going to be trouble," Ms. Smirt said. "No sass, no back talk, stand up straight, and act like young ladies for once, or so help me I'll—"**

"You'll what?" Henry asked, glaring at the book. "Tell me what you're going to do to my daughters."

 **"Ms. Smirt?" A voice interrupted the caseworker's threat. The girls looked up to find a chubby old woman standing in front of them. She was dressed in an ankle-length, navy blue dress with a white knitted shawl around her shoulders. Her long, gray hair was streaked with red, hinting at its original color, and she wore it tightly tucked under a matching navy blue hat with an appliqué of a big fuzzy sunflower in the middle. Her face was a collection of wrinkles and sagging skin. Nevertheless, there was something youthful about it. Perhaps it was the old woman's red cheeks and clear, green eyes.**

Granny Relda placed her hand above her heart. "Thank you for the lovely description _liebling_."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow, going over the description in her head. It hadn't been all that lovely until the end.

 **Next to her stood the skinniest man Sabrina had ever seen. He had a full head of untamed platinum hair and enormous, watery eyes buried beneath eyebrows that were in desperate need of a trim. He wore a dark pinstriped suit that was several sizes too big and held a wide umbrella in one hand and his hat in the other.**

Mr. Canis grunted, recognizing himself. Red giggled, "Yep, that's you!"

 **Ms. Smirt gave the girls a hard pinch on the shoulder, which acted as a warning to behave, and, Sabrina suspected, a last opportunity to inflict some pain.**

Sabrina and Daphne gave yelps at the same time. The family turned to them, alarmed.

"What?" Veronica asked frantically. "What happened?"

"This book is really weird," Daphne grumbled. "I don't like it anymore."

Sabrina sighed. Daphne had obviously come to the same conclusion that she had, but everybody else in the room was still confused. "Before this, in the prologue, the book said that we had run out of breath. I felt like I had been running a marathon. When the book said that we had gotten off the train and it was cold outside, I was suddenly freezing. When Ms. Smirt pinched us in the book, I felt the pinch that she gave me."

Veronica buried her head in her hands. "What you feel in the book, all those years ago, you feel again now."

Sabrina winced remembering all the pain she went through.

Puck moaned, "You mean I'm going to feel the pain of getting my wings ripped off again?"

"Puck wins the prize of most painful injury," Sabrina muttered.

"Yeah I have the most painful injury, but you're the most careless person I've ever met!" Puck exclaimed. "You get way more injuries than I do and all of them are bad!"

"And they're all probably going to feel a lot worse because at the time you got them you had a lot of adrenaline in your systems," Red said.

Sabrina threw her arms up into the air. "Great! Just great! Thank's Puck!"

Puck frowned, hurt, but didn't protest.

"Hey," Uncle Jake interjected. "Let's not go laying blame. That's not going to take any of the pain away, nor will it get us out of here any faster."

 **"Yes, Mrs. Grimm. It's us," Ms. Smirt said, forcing her usual frown into a smile.**

 **"Sabrina? Daphne?" the woman cried with a hint of a German accent.**

"Observant," Mr. Canis noted. "Most people don't know what accent it is, especially at the age that you were."

Sabrina blinked at his compliment. "Thanks?" she asked more than stated. "I don't know, German is a pretty big language and the accent is pretty distinct."

 **"Oh, you are both so beautiful. What little darlings! I'm your Grandmother Grimm." She wrapped her chubby arms around the girls and hugged them tightly. The girls squirmed to escape. But the old woman was like an over-affectionate octopus hugging them and kissing them on their heads and shoulders.**

Puck snorted. "That's a new comparison."

Granny Relda blinked then beamed at her eldest grandchild. "Sabrina I never knew you had such a way with words!"

 **"Mrs. Grimm, it's so nice to meet you," Ms. Smirt interrupted. Mrs. Grimm raised herself up to her full height, which wasn't very high, and cocked her eyebrow at the caseworker. Sabrina could have sworn she saw the old woman smirk.**

Granny Relda gasped. "Smirk? Me? Never!"

Uncle Jake snorted and nudged Henry. "Remember that one teacher that we both had?"

Henry raised an eyebrow at him. "The one that wasn't an Everafter, didn't know about the Everafters, yet still decided that Grimms were the bane of her existence?"

Uncle Jake smirked. "Mom was like that with her too, remember?"

Henry thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, yeah. She was, wasn't she?"

 **"It's nice to meet you, too," said Mrs. Grimm.**

Henry hesitated. "There's a picture on the next page," he said. He didn't turn to show it to anybody, but he kept on staring at it. "It's not a very good picture. Bad resolution," he continued.

"Come on," Puck complained. "Let us see."

The picture was in black and white, at the train station. Ms. Smirt stood behind the girls, a smug smirk on her face. Sabrina had her arm around Daphne's shoulders, holding the little girl close to her with a suspicious glare on her face. Daphne was leaning into her sister, staring at her grandmother with an unsure look on her face. They both had a small suitcase beside them that contained the total sum of all the things that they owned. They were facing Granny Relda, who looked ecstatic to see them and Mr. Cains who was holding an umbrella above their heads shielding the both of them from the rain.

"Oh what a lovely picture!" Granny Relda clasped her hands together. She turned to her friend. "Don't you think Old Friend? It captures what everybody was feeling just perfectly!"

Mr. Canis grunted his agreement.

"You look so young," Veronica breathed. She ran her fingers through Daphne's hair, which had not been put up into pigtails for a few years.

"It was five years ago, Mom, of course we look young!" Daphne said in a voice that implied that she thought Veronica was being silly.

"Yes of course," Herny said. He was still staring at the picture.

Sabrina knew how they felt. They had no pictures of the time between their disappearance and their awakening. It must have been strange to see them, a little younger than when they first awoke but a few years older than when they had been kidnapped.

"Wow Piggy, I forgot just how ugly you were," Puck cackled.

Sabrina smirked, "Are you saying that I'm pretty now?"

Puck spluttered. "Wha- no! Where would you get that from?"

Red shook her head sympathetically. "You walked right into that one, Puck."

 **"I am just so thrilled to have helped you and the girls reunite."**

 **"Oh, I'm sure you are," said the old woman, turning her back on the caseworker and giving the girls a wink. She placed a hand on each girl's shoulder and turned them toward her companion.**

Veronica raised an eyebrow at her. "You knew that she wasn't good to the girls?"

Granny Relda said, "Motherly instinct. I'm sure you know when somebody isn't good to them too."

Veronica nodded.

 **"Girls, this is Mr. Canis. He helps me take care of our house and other matters. He lives with us, too, and he'll be helping me look after you," she said.**

"Whoo!" Daphne cheered. "Go Mr. Canis!"

Mr. Canis looked befuddled. "I'm not doing anything that would require you to cheer for me."

Daphne simply grinned at him.

 **Daphne and Sabrina stared up into the old man's gaunt face. He was so skinny and frail-looking that it seemed as though the umbrella he was holding would collapse on him at any moment. He nodded at the girls then handed Mrs. Grimm the umbrella, picked up the suitcases, and walked down the platform toward the parking lot.**

 **"Well, girls, this is goodbye," said Ms. Smirt as her eyes darted to the open train door.**

" _Finally,_ " Puck said. "I was growing tired of her."

 **She stepped forward and limply hugged Daphne, whispering something in her ear that made the little girl cringe.**

Henry frowned. "What did she say to you?"

Daphne shook her head. "It was a long time ago. I don't remember anymore."

 **Then she hooked Sabrina in her uncomfortable embrace.**

 **"Let's make this the last time we see each other," the caseworker snarled into Sabrina's ear.**

"Yes please," Sabrina muttered under her breath.

 **"Good luck, Mrs. Grimm," Ms. Smirt said as she released Sabrina and reached out to shake the hand of the old woman, who looked as if the caseworker were trying to give her something smelly and dead.**

"Which that woman will be once I get my hands on her," Veronica muttered.

Daphne gasped in shock. "Mom!"

"I know a place to hide the body," Sabrina offered. "It's right near the orphanage too. She deserves her final resting spot to be so close to the place that she obviously wanted to get far, far away from."

"I know how to make a body look like it's been dead for way longer than it really was," Puck chipped in.

"I can be on the lookout for anybody who might see us," Red said.

"I know how I get rid of the evidence," Uncle Jake smirked.

"I know how to make it look like an accident," Mr. Canis said darkly.

Granny Relda shook her head. "None of you are killing that woman."

"Without me," Henry tacked on.

"Dad!" Daphne wailed. "Nobody is going to kill Ms. Smirt! She may be awful but she… she um…"

"Aw, come on Marshmallow," Puck whined. "It'll be fun!"

"And you came up with nothing in her defense," Sabrina added. "If _you_ can't think of any redeeming traits, then nobody can."

 **Ms. Smirt, sensing disapproval, hemmed and hawed for a moment and quickly reboarded the train without looking back.**

Veronica blinked. "Isn't she supposed to stay with you longer or something to make sure that whoever it is she's leaving you with isn't going to kill you? Not that I'm unhappy to see her go," she quickly added.

"That's Ms. Smirt for you," Sabrina rolled her eyes. "At the very least, she's not going to be coming back for a while."

 **The doors shut and the train pulled away, back to New York City. As happy as Sabrina was to be rid of Ms. Smirt, she realized that their caseworker had left them in the care of a complete stranger.**

 **Mrs. Grimm's barrage of kisses continued all the way down the platform to the parking lot where Mr. Canis was waiting for them beside the oldest car Sabrina had ever seen. Dingy and covered in rust, it squeaked and protested when Mr. Canis opened the back door and the girls crawled inside.**

Henry grimaced. "I hate that car."

"Well it's the only car we have," Granny Relda said cheerfully.

 **"Is this safe?" Sabrina asked as Mr. Canis and the old woman settled into their seats.**

 **"It got us here." The old woman laughed. "I suppose it will get us back."**

"Granny Relda, when did you get the car?" Daphne asked curiously.

"Oh _liebling_ ," Granny Relda sighed. "Many years ago."

"I think it was when I was ten," Uncle Jake said, thinking back. "And even then they had bought it at a used car place."

 **The car sputtered, backfired, and then roared to life, belching a black fog out of its tailpipe. The engine was an orchestra of gears grinding so loudly that Sabrina thought she might go deaf. Daphne had already plugged her fingers into her ears.**

"You OK?" Henry asked them. "No pain?"

"No," Sabrina shook her head. "Loud noise isn't all that painful."

Daphne nodded. "Besides, we're used to that noise!"

 **Mrs. Grimm turned to the girls and shouted, "Put on your seat belts!"**

Sabina's eye's widened. "That's what you said!"

Granny Relda looked confused. "Could you not hear me?"

 **"What?" Sabrina shouted back.**

 **"What?!" the old woman asked.**

 **"I can't hear you!" Sabrina yelled.**

 **"More than six!" the old woman replied.**

 **"Six what?" Sabrina screamed.**

 **"Probably!" The old woman laughed, turning back around.**

The family was in a fit of giggles by the end of this.

Puck shook his head. "That car is so loud! It's great because I can never hear Ugly when we're driving!"

"That goes both ways," Sabrina retorted.

 **Sabrina sighed. Daphne took her fingers out of her ears just long enough to hold up the torn straps of her seat belt. Sabrina rolled her eyes and then looked for hers. She reached down into the ripped-up seats and pulled out a filthy old rope.**

Veronica sighed. "That car really isn't safe."

Granny Relda simply smiled and said, "It's lasted us this long!"

 **"I told you to put on your seat belt!" Mrs. Grimm said.**

 **"This?!" Sabrina shouted, holding up the rope.**

 **"Yes, yes! Here!" The old woman leaned into the backseat and tied the torn straps of Daphne's seat belt to Sabrina's filthy rope so tightly the girls could barely breathe.**

"Ugh," Sabrina said grimacing. Daphne made a small noise of discomfort.

"Sorry girls," Granny Relda apologized.

 **"There, snug as a bug in a rug!" the old woman hollered.**

 **"I love dolphins, too!" Daphne exclaimed.**

 **"Not since I hurt my toes!" Mrs. Grimm shouted.**

 **Sabrina put her face in her hands and groaned.**

Uncle Jake shook his head. "How could you have not heard any of that correctly?"

"It was very amusing," Mr. Canis said in a monotone voice.

 **They drove through the little town, which consisted of a two-lane road bordered by a couple of antiques stores, a bicycle shop, a police station, the Ferryport Landing Post Office, a restaurant named Old King Cole's, a toy store, and a beauty parlor.**

Uncle Jake raised an eyebrow. "You noticed all of that?

"I was trying to look for a place to hide out for a bit if Daphne and I passed through the town when we ran away," Sabrina defended. "I did it with every new foster parent. I had to know how to get back to the orphanage too."

Henry frowned. "I know that your memory is good, but I didn't know that it was that good."

"Sabrina knows everything," Daphne told him proudly. "She memorized the whole dictionary because it was the only thing to read at the orphanage!"

Veronica's eyes widened. "That's very impressive."'

"And it sounds boring!" Puck said. "How did you manage it Grimm?"

Sabrina grinned. "It pissed Ms. Smirt off."

Daphne snickered. "Yeah, she couldn't insult you for reading the dictionary, so she got really frustrated."

"That right there is some very backwards logic," Uncle Jake shook his head.

 **Mr. Canis made a left turn at the town's one and only stoplight and within seconds they were cruising out of the town proper and into what Mrs. Grimm called Ferryport Landing's "farm country." As far as Sabrina could tell, the only crop this town grew was mud.**

"Ah, mud," Puck sighed wistfully. "Great for pranking."

Sabrina leaned away from him, shielding Basil from the prank-happy Everafter.

 **Mrs. Grimm's house sat far up on a tree-speckled hill fifteen minutes away from the closest neighbor. It was short and squat, much like its owner, and had two stories, a wraparound porch, and small windows with bright blue shutters. Fat green shrubs lined the cobblestone path that led to the front door. It all would have looked cozy, but just behind the house loomed the forest—its branches hanging over the little roof as if the trees were preparing to swallow the house whole.**

Puck's eyes widened. "How awesome would that be," he breathed out.

"Not very awesome because we'd have nowhere to sleep," Sabrina felt the need to point out.

Puck waved her concerns away. "I've slept in that forest before! Best days of my life. No baths, no soap and no books!"

 **"You live in a dollhouse," Daphne declared, and Mrs. Grimm smiled.**

 **But Sabrina wasn't amused. The place was creepy and she felt as if she was being watched. She squinted to see into the dense trees, but if anyone was spying they were well hidden.**

Red turned to Puck. "Was that you?"

Puck blushed furiously. "No! Of course not! Why would I, the great and magnificent Trickster King, want to spy on the lowly Grimms?"

"Uh-huh, sure bud," Daphne muttered.

 **"Why do you live all the way out here?" she asked. New York City was a place where everyone lived on top of each other, and that was exactly how Sabrina liked it. Living out in the middle of nowhere was dangerous and suspicious.**

 **"Oh, I like the quiet," said Mrs. Grimm. "It's nice not to hear the honking of horns."**

 _ **And there's no one to hear the screaming of children up here**_ **, Sabrina thought to herself.**

Veronica gasped. "Sabrina!"

"What?" Sabrina asked. "It was a perfectly valid point."

"Paranoid much?" Puck teased.

" _You_ take the foster care system for a test drive. We'll see how you manage once we take you out of it a year and a half later," Sabrina said grumpily, sending him a glare.

 **Mr. Canis unlocked the car's huge musty trunk, pulled out the two tiny suitcases, and led everyone to the frontdoor. The old woman followed closely behind, fumbling with her handbag until she fished out what looked like the largest key ring in the world.**

Granny Relda chuckled. "Oh, I'm not sure about that," she said.

"Really?" Daphne asked. "I am."

 **Hundreds of keys were attached to it, each different from the others: skeleton keys made from what looked like crystal, ancient brass keys, bright new silver ones in many sizes, and several that didn't look like keys at all.**

 **"Wow! That's a lot of keys," Daphne said.**

 **"That's a lot of locks," Sabrina added as she eyed the front door. It must have had a dozen bolts of all shapes and sizes.**

Sabrina nodded at her past self's words. "It was a lot of locks," she murmured.

"And a lot of keys too," Daphne added, not to be left out.

 **Mrs. Grimm ignored the comment and flipped through the key ring, inserting one key after another into the locks until she had unlocked them all. Then she rapped her knuckles on the door three times and said, "We're home."**

 **Daphne looked up at her sister for an explanation but Sabrina had none. Instead, she twirled her finger around her ear and mouthed the word crazy. The little girl giggled.**

"Why I never!" Granny Relda huffed, obviously in good humour. She sent a wink at the two girls.

Red frowned. "Isn't that a little rude?"

Sabrina nodded, embarrassed. "Yeah, sorry Granny Relda."

Granny Relda waved her off, "Oh _liebling_ , I've had much worse insults than that thrown my way. Besides, it's completely understandable from your point of view."

 **"Let me take your coats,** _ **lieblings**_ **," Mrs. Grimm said as they entered the house and she closed the door behind them, turning the locks one after another.**

 **"** _ **Liebling**_ **?" Daphne asked.**

Sabrina smiled, finding comfort in the endearment. It was something that was so uniquely Granny Relda that she always felt a sense of calm when she heard it.

 **"It means sweetheart in German," the old woman said. She opened the coat closet door and several books tumbled to her feet. Mr. Canis quickly restacked them for her.**

 **"Girls, I must warn you. I'm not much of a housekeeper," Mrs. Grimm said. "We'll have dinner in about an hour," she said to Mr. Canis, who picked up the girls' suitcases and headed for the stairs.**

Sabrina pulled a face at the mention of dinner. Wonderful though Granny Relda may be, her food was something else entirely.

"Dinner…" Daphne said, salivating.

"Daphne," Red laughed. "You just ate! How can you still be hungry?"

"I'm always hungry!" Daphne declared.

 **"Ladies, let me give you the grand tour." She led them into the living room. It was enormous, a much larger room than seemed possible in a cottage so small. Each wall was lined with bookshelves, stuffed with more books than Sabrina had ever seen. Stacks of them also sat on the floor, the tables, and every other surface. A teapot perched precariously on a stack that looked as if it would fall over at any moment. Books were under the couch cushions, under the carpet. Several giant stacks stood in front of an old television, blocking any chance that someone could watch cartoons. On the spines Sabrina read the strangest titles: Birds of Oz, The Autobiography of an Evil Queen, and Shoes, Toys, and Cookies: The Elvish Handcraft Tradition.**

"I haven't read the Autobiography of an Evil Queen yet," Daphne said thoughtfully. "Where is it?"

Sabina had already read it, having taken knowing the history of all the Everafters much seriously after their escapade into the Book of Everafter. "It's nothing that you don't already know," she said. "And good luck finding it."

 **The old woman led them from room to room, showing them where she kept the snacks in the white-tiled kitchen and how to get the rickety bathroom door to close. Sabrina pretended to be interested but in reality she secretly "cased the joint."**

"Cased the joint?" Puck raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like something from a lame old cop movie."

Sabrina didn't much like 'lame old cop movies' and was kind of insulted by his comparison. But it wasn't like she had came up with the name. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered who had forced Puck to watch those movies, because he clearly didn't like them and god knows that it was hell to get Puck to do something that he didn't want to. But when she looked over at Uncle Jake, who was glaring at Puck, her question answered itself.

 **It was a technique she had picked up after spending a year in the foster care system. In each room she noted where the windows and doors where, eyed locks, and paid close attention to creaky floorboards.**

"That sounds really useful," Uncle Jake said. "No wonder you're such a good detective, Sabrina."

Sabrina smiled awkwardly, but took the compliment.

 **But it wasn't easy. She kept getting distracted by the odd books and the dozens of old black-and-white photographs that decorated the walls. Most of them were of a much younger Mrs. Grimm and a stocky, bearded man with a wide smile. There were pictures of them hiking in the jungle, standing on an icy glacier, scaling a mountain, and even riding camels in the desert. In some pictures, Mrs. Grimm was carrying a small child in a papoose, while the bearded man stood next to her, proudly beaming at the camera.**

"I suppose that would be me," Henry sighed.

Granny Relda smiled proudly while Veronica giggled. "Oh yes, you went on quite a few adventures when you were just a little one."

"I know mom, you've told me all of them," Henry shook his head.

 **Daphne was just as distracted, and when they arrived back in the living room, she walked over to a picture and looked at it closely.**

 **"That was your opa, Basil," Mrs. Grimm said wistfully.**

 **"Opa?" Daphne asked.**

 **"Grandfather,** _ **liebling**_ **. He passed on about eleven years ago," she said.**

 **"Is that your baby?" Daphne said.**

 **The old lady smiled and studied the picture as if she weren't sure. "That's your papa," she said with a smile. The little girl eyed the photo closely, but Sabrina turned away. Babies all looked the same. An old photo couldn't prove anything.**

"So suspicious," Puck teased.

"You learn to be suspicious," Sabrina said. "It's not something you're born with. I think that I have earned the right to be suspicious."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "If you say so."

Sabrina sent him a shocked look. Normally her family and her friends stayed away from doubting her after she made a comment like she did, afraid to set her off. Sabrina hid a smile. Maybe Basil wasn't the only one that wouldn't treat her like already shattered glass.

 **"Oh, my, I've forgotten the cookies," the old woman said as she dashed to the kitchen. In no time she returned with a plate of warm chocolate-chip cookies. Daphne, of course, happily grabbed one and took a bite.**

 **"These taste just like my mommy's," she exclaimed.**

Veronica shook her head in amazement. "Even after all that time you still remembered what my cookies tasted like?"

Daphne beamed. "They were really good cookies!"

 **"Where do you think she got the recipe, angel?" Mrs. Grimm said.**

 **Sabrina refused to take a cookie, giving Mrs. Grimm an "I know what you're up to" look. She wasn't going to be bribed with sweets.**

Daphne looked confused. "But cookies are the best thing to be bribed with!"

"Cookies are the best thing to bribe _you_ with," Sabrina corrected. "I'm more of a blackmail kind of person."

Puck nodded, "Good to know," he said cheerfully.

 **Just then, Mr. Canis walked into the room.**

 **"I was about to introduce the girls to Elvis," Mrs. Grimm said to him.**

Elvis let out a happy bark at the sound of his name.

 **Mr. Canis gave a slight smile, nodded, and walked past them toward the kitchen.**

"I understand why," Sabrina muttered.

 **That's a weird man, Sabrina thought as she noted two loud creaks in the middle of the living room floor.**

"Really?" Puck asked shooting her a skeptical look. "Even with cookies right in front of you, you still notice creaks in the floor?"

"You gotta know where not to step if you're sneaking," Sabrina emphasized.

 **"Is he your boyfriend?" Daphne asked the old woman, who was trying to balance the plate of cookies on top of two uneven stacks of books.**

Everybody snorted. Granny Relda and Mr. Canis were best friends, just like Red and Daphne were. Them dating was just a strange thought.

 **Mrs. Grimm blushed and giggled. "Oh, dear, no. Mr. Canis and I are not courting. We are just good friends," she said.**

 **"What does courting mean?" Daphne asked her sister.**

 **"It's an old-fashioned word for dating," Sabrina replied.**

"I like the word courting better than dating," Daphne decided. "It sounds nicer."

"It does, doesn't it?" Red agreed.

"Well none of you will be _courting_ anybody for a long time," Henry said. "Not until you're old and wrinkly. That way we'll know that they're not after you for just your looks."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "No, they'll be after us for our money, because obviously there has to be benefits from dating, otherwise people wouldn't do it."

Henry sighed and shared a look with Veronica. Sabrina narrowed her eyes. She didn't believe in love at first sight, so what?

"What about genuinely wanting to get to know the person that you're dating?" Daphne countered.

Sabrina stared at her, feigning obliviousness. "Are you suggesting that I go up to any random person that looks mildly interesting and ask them out on a date?"

Daphne rolled her eyes at her, something Sabrina scowled at. "No, I'm saying that if two people are interested in getting to know each other better than they should."

Sabrina let it go, knowing that she would never win an argument about love against the forever optimistic Daphne.

 **Suddenly, there was a great rumbling in the house. Books fell from their shelves, windows shook in their frames, and the tray of cookies slid to the floor before the old woman could catch it. And then something enormous came charging through the room and right at them.**

"Elvis!" Daphne exclaimed, and he gave a loud bark, acknowledging his presence in the book.

 **It moved so quickly Sabrina couldn't tell what it was. It pushed over lamps and chairs, leaped over an ottoman, and knocked the terrified girls to the ground. Sabrina screamed, sure they were about to be eaten when, much to her surprise, a gooey tongue licked her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked up at the friendly face of a giant dog.**

Elvis' tail thumped happily against the floor.

"You were scared of Elvis," Puck deadpanned.

"Elvis is twice my size. Any sane person would be scared if anything his size ran at them," Sabrina defended herself.

 **"Elvis, please, get off of them," Mrs. Grimm said, half commanding and half laughing at the Great Dane. "He gets very excited around new people." The enormous dog gave one last lick to Sabrina's face, leaving a long trail of drool, before sitting down next to the old woman, panting and wagging his immense tail.**

 **"This is Elvis. He's a member of our little family and completely harmless if he likes you," said Mrs. Grimm, scratching the beast on his immense head. The dog licked the old woman on the cheek.**

 **"And if he doesn't?" Sabrina asked as she climbed to her feet. The old woman ignored her question.**

Daphne gasped. "Elvis likes everybody! Unless you're somebody really bad, but everybody else!"

 **Daphne, on the other hand, jumped up and threw her arms around the dog. "Oh, I love him! He's so cute!" She laughed as she covered the dog with her own kisses.**

Daphne decided that this was the best time to do the same thing to Elvis in real life, showering the pleased dog with love and attention.

 **"This is the only boyfriend I have." Mrs. Grimm smiled. "And probably the smartest one I've ever had, to.**

Uncle Jake and her dad shared a look, then burst into laughter.

"Elvis smarter than dad?" Uncle Jake said. "You got that right!"

"Hey!" Henry said, acting like he was about to say something to come to his father's defence. They all laughed when instead he said, "At least dad has opposable thumbs!"

Veronica rolled her eyes at the brothers with a fond smile.

 **Watch!"**

 **Daphne stepped back and she and Sabrina watched as Mrs. Grimm put her hand out to Elvis. "Elvis, shake," she said, and the dog reached out a huge forepaw and placed it in her hand.**

 **Daphne giggled.**

 **"Play dead," Daphne said hopefully, and the dog fell stiffly over onto his side. The impact dislodged several books from a nearby shelf.**

 **Mrs. Grimm laughed. "You two must be starving after your trip. I suppose I better get started with dinner. I hope spaghetti and meatballs is OK."**

 **"I love spaghetti and meatballs!" Daphne cried as Elvis gave her a fresh lick.**

"I really love spaghetti and meatballs," Daphne said seriously.

Sabrina shifted uncomfortably. As much as she loved Basil, her legs were growing numb from having him sit on them for so long. The kid was seven and about one third of her height. He was small for his age, but he had been sitting on her lap for a while.

"We know that you do sweetheart," Veronica said, smiling.

Sabrina thought that she probably loved to see the parallels between her daughters from before she fell asleep, in the book, and now. Shows that she didn't miss too much, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

 **"I know you do," Mrs. Grimm said with a wink. She disappeared into the kitchen, where she began rattling pots and pans.**

 **"I don't like this at all, Daphne," Sabrina said as she wiped off the last of the dog's goo. "Don't get used to this place. We're not going to be here long."**

"And yet here we are, about you said this." Puck said "Still here."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Whatever. It's not like I thought that Granny Relda would be any different. Well, I thought that she would be crazier than the rest, but that doesn't count."

"Sabrina," Henry scolded.

Sabrina shrugged in a 'what? It's true' kind of way.

 **"Stop being a snot," Daphne said as she laid a huge smooch on Elvis. Snot was her favorite word lately. "She wouldn't hurt us. She's nice."**

 **"That's why crazy people are so dangerous. You think they're nice until they're chaining you up in the garage," Sabrina replied.**

Henry raised an eyebrow. "That sounds rather specific."

"Yeah, one of the girls that I shared a room with in the orphanage went to some awful foster parents that she told me all about. She tried to kill me once," Sabrina reminisced. "She was my favourite."

Puck sent her an alarmed glance. "She's your favourite even though she tried to kill you once? I knew you were crazy Grimm, but I didn't think that you were this crazy!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "She was my favourite because she only tried to kill me once. And all the others that didn't try to kill me always told on me to Ms. Smirt instead."

"She was the one with the pillow that tried to suffocate you in your sleep, right?" Daphne asked.

Sabrina nodded. "Spot on."

"Ok," Puck declared. "I give in. You have a right to be suspicious. No more judging from me."

 **"And I am not being a snot."**

 **"Yes, you are."**

 **"No, I'm not."**

 **"Yes, you are," Daphne insisted. "Anything is better than living at the orphanage, right?"**

"That was a good point," Sabrina murmured. "A very good point."

"I'd rather live with Granny Relda than in an orphanage any day," Daphne said.

Granny Relda laughed. "I'm glad to hear so, _liebling._ "

 **Daphne had a point. Sabrina walked over and examined the photograph the old woman claimed was of the girl's father. The rosy-cheeked baby in the photo seemed to stare back at her.**

"That's creepy," Puck said.

"Aw, cute," Red said at the same time.

The two traded looks, and Red flushed and turned away. Sabrina shook her head. She was still so self-conscious, though Sabrina had no room to judge. The two of them both had some pretty messed up heads, and they both had benefited from a few heart to hearts.

 **Mr. Canis had cleared the big oak dining room table of enough books for everyone to eat comfortably. He had left an exceptionally thick volume entitled Architecture for Pigs on Daphne's chair so the little girl could reach her dinner.**

Puck snickered. "After living in the human world for so long, that title is hilarious."

Sabrina nodded, laughing. "I know right! That's how I feel when we visit here. It's so weird, isn't it?"

She realized that five years ago, this would have been a big moment to her. She was getting along with Puck! But his felt natural and good. She liked laughing with him.

 **As they waited patiently for Mrs. Grimm, who was still making a thunderous racket in die kitchen, Mr. Canis closed his eyes and sat silently. Soon, his stillness began to unnerve Sabrina. Was he a mute? Was there something wrong with him? In New York City, everyone talked, or rather, everyone yelled at everyone, all the time. They never sat quietly with their eyes closed when people were around. It was rude.**

"Sorry," Mr. Canis said in a voice that meant that he was more amused than apologetic.

Daphne graciously accepted his apology anyway, though Sabrina thought that it was likely that she never remembered this moment.

 **"I think he's dead," Daphne whispered after staring at him for some time.**

Sabrina frowned, reminded of the time that they thought that their friend had died after the school had fallen down on him. Even as everybody else laughed from around her, she could feel the memories of the guilt and the depression pressing in on her, causing the heavy feeling that always sat on her chest to grow heavier.

Sabrina jumped when Puck placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?" He whispered.

Sabrina forced a smile onto her face. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Puck's eyes flicked down to her hands, and Sabrina realized that she was digging her nails so tightly into her palms that she had started to bleed. She unclenched her hands like she had been burned and turned away from Puck, her face turning red. She didn't _want_ Puck to see her deteriorated mental state. Surely the books would show him, but that would be a long ways away. She doubted the first book would get into anything so heavy.

 **Suddenly, Mrs. Grimm came through the door with a big copper pot and placed it on the table. She rushed back into the kitchen and returned with a plate of salad and set it in front of Mr. Canis. As soon as the plate hit the table the old man opened his eyes and began to eat.**

"I remember that," Daphne said proudly. "You startled me!"

Mr. Canis nodded as though he knew this all along. Perhaps he had.

 **"How did you know I like spaghetti? It's my favorite!" Daphne said happily.**

 **"I know lots of things about you,** _**liebling**_ **. I am your oma," Mrs. Grimm replied.**

 **"Oma?" Sabrina asked. "What's this weird language you keep speaking?"**

"I thought that you knew that her accent was German?" Uncle Jake sounded puzzled.

Sabrina shrugged. "It was just a passing observation. Just because I think of something, doesn't mean I know it."

"You're confusing, Grimm," Puck complained.

"Well I'm sorry your walnut sized brain can't figure me out," Sabrina said sarcastically.

Puck pouted. "My brain isn't the size of a walnut…" he grumbled, unable to think of a good comeback.

 **"It means grandmother in German. That's where our family is from," Mrs. Grimm answered.**

 **"My family is from New York City," Sabrina said stiffly.**

 **The old woman smiled a sad smile. "Your mama sent me letters from time to time. I know a great deal about you both. In fact, when I stopped getting them I knew that ..." She sighed.**

 **"That they'd abandoned us?" Sabrina snapped. Suddenly, Sabrina felt as if she might burst into tears. She ducked her head, fighting their escape down her cheeks.**

Veronica started crying again as she read this, and Henry put his arm around her shoulders, tears on his face as well.

"Oh Sabrina," Uncle Jake said. "It must have been so painful to believe that."

Sabrina shrugged stiffly, trying to keep from breaking down herself. "I survived."

"Surviving is not the same as living," Red gave her philosophical advice.

"Well I'm still learning to live," Sabrina snapped, then instantly regretted it. She and Red had a good relationship, and she was one of the only people that she could never get mad at nowadays. "Sorry," Sabrina said guiltily.

Red shook her head, a soft, understanding smile on her face. "I understand."

 **"Child, your mother and father didn't abandon you," Mrs. Grimm cried.**

 **"Mrs. Grimm, I —" Daphne began.**

"It feels so wrong to think of the two of you calling the Old Lady Mrs. Grimm," Puck said, trying to dissipate the heavy feel in the room. "I've always heard you call her Granny Relda."

Sabrina shrugged, not in the mood. Daphne however, nodded enthusiastically, "I know! I even felt weird calling her that years ago."

 **"** _ **Liebling**_ **, I'm not Mrs. Grimm. I'm your grandmother," the old woman said. "You can call me Grandma or Oma, but never Mrs. Grimm, please."**

 **"Can we call you Granny? I always wanted a granny," said Daphne. Sabrina kicked her sharply under the table and the little girl winced.**

"Ow!" Daphne cried. She rubbed at her leg and gave Sabrina an annoyed glare. "You didn't have to kick so hard," she pouted.

"Sabrina!" Veronica scolded. "I can't believe you kicked your sister."

"Yeah, like, six years ago," Sabrina rolled her eyes. "I can't possibly get in trouble for that now, can I?"

"They shouldn't get in trouble for the things that they did from five or six years ago," Uncle Jake defended them. "If they were smart enough to get away with it then, then I don't see why we should punish them now. It's not their fault for getting caught."

Henry turned to his brother in annoyance. "You want us to teach them that if they do something bad it's fine as long as they don't get caught. I think you can see why I have concerns with that."

Uncle Jake turned to the kids with a smile and a shrug, his body language conveying, 'well, I tried.'

 **"Of course, I'll be your Granny Relda," the old woman said with a smile, as she took the top off the pot.**

 **Sabrina stared inside. She had never seen spaghetti like this. The noodles were black and the sauce was a bright orange color. It smelled both sweet and spicy at the same time, and the meatballs, which were emerald green, were surely not made from any kind of meat Sabrina had ever had.**

Sabrina shuddered at the thought of the food. She had honestly thought that Granny Relda had been trying to poison them for the first few meals, but when Daphne didn't show any sign of illness, she had given in.

 **"It's a special recipe," Mrs. Grimm said, as she dished some out for Daphne. "The sauce has a little curry in it and the noodles are made with squid ink."**

 **Sabrina was disgusted. There was no way she was going to eat the old woman's weird food. This sicko had lied about being someone's dead grandmother. Who knew what she had yanked from under the kitchen sink and added to the recipe: arsenic, rat poison, clog remover?**

"And that," Sabrina's dad said. "Is why you don't eat mom's angry food."

Uncle Jake nodded. "You never know what she could have put in there. The weird taste and the strange colours mask anything that she could have 'mistakenly' put in there."

Mr. Canis nodded his head in agreement, but didn't offer any other confirmation. Sabrina could just imagine all the times that Granny Relda had cooked 'angry food' for other people. Offhandedly she wondered if one of those people had been Charming. She would have loved to see the look on his face when he realized that her food was just about as bad for him as it looked.

Granny Relda huffed. "I'd never ruin any food on purpose! It would be a waste!"

Uncle Jake leaned towards the children. "That's what she wants you to think," he stage whispered.

 **No, Sabrina wasn't going to eat a noodle. Of course, Daphne dug in with gusto and had already swallowed a third of her plate before Sabrina could warn her.**

Daphne turned pale. "But what if somebody actually fed me poison?" She cried. "Who could stop me from eating it if I'm too fast for Sabrina to stop me?"

"You'd be screwed," Sabrina told her frankly. "You'd eat anything if it was in front of you. I can't count how many times I've had to stop you from eating your own pillow while you were sleeping."

A look of dawning realization came over Daphne's face. "That's why all my pillows get ripped up in my sleep," she breathed.

Everybody shared looks then burst into laughter.

 **"So, Mr. Canis says your suitcases felt almost empty. Don't you have any clothes?" Mrs. Grimm asked.**

 **"The police kept them," Daphne said, shoveling a huge forkful of noodles into her mouth. "They said they were evidence."**

"Never got those back," Sabrina said thoughtfully.

Puck snorted. "Well what would you do with them now? I doubt they'd be big enough to fit you, look at how fat you've gotten!"

Sabrina shot him a glare. "My clothes were not the only thing of mine that they took. Besides, if they're in police custody doing nothing but gathering dust, I don't see why they can't donate them to some shelter or something."

"Maybe they have," Daphne suggested. Sabrina shook her head in disbelief. That was her sister, so naive, so hopeful. So ignorant.

 **"Kept them? That's crazy! What will they do with them?" She looked at each of them and finally at Mr. Canis, who shrugged.**

 **"Well, we'll have to go into town and pick you out new wardrobes. We can't have you running around naked all the time, can we? I mean, people will think we're nudists."**

Sabrina let out a breath of air that could be considered laughter, but it paled in comparison to the deep belly laughter that Daphne emitted.

 **Daphne laughed to the point of snorting, but when she saw Sabrina's disapproving face she stopped and stuck her tongue out at her sister.**

"Stick in the mud," Daphne pouted.

Sabrina shot her a look. Stick in the mud was not something that she appreciated being called. She already got it enough at school, she did not need it at home too.

 **"I was thinking that we—" Mrs. Grimm started, but Sabrina interrupted.**

 **"Who are you? And don't say you're our grandmother because our grandmother is dead!"**

Puck raised an eyebrow. "I knew that the blow up was coming, but what set it off?"

"Just tired of it, I suppose," Sabrina muttered. "Sorry for giving you such a hard time, Granny Relda."

Granny Relda waved her away with a light laugh. "Oh it's quite alright _liebling,_ I quite think that you've earned the right to give foster parents a hard time."

Sabrina smiled.

 **Mrs. Grimm shifted in her seat. Mr. Canis, obviously seeing the question as his cue to retire, got up, took his empty plate, and exited the room.**

The whole room went still. Daphne stopped playing with Elvis, Elvis stopped wagging his tail, Red stopped fiddling with the hem of her shirt, Granny Relda stopped drumming her fingers against the armrest, Mr. Canis stopped his shifting, Uncle Jake stopped bouncing his leg, Sabrina's dad stopped playing with her mom's hair, Puck stopped acting out the words of the book, Sabrina stopped playing with Basil's fingers, and even Basil's snores quieted.

The only sound made was Henry's voice.

As Puck said, they had all known that Sabrina was going to blow up soon. She had a low tolerance for bull shit, and they were all surprised that she had lasted so long without getting angry enough to call Relda out. But now she was standing up and now she was pressing for answers.

 **"But I am your grandmother,** _**libeling**_ **," the old woman replied.**

 **"I said our grandmother is dead. Our father told us she died before we were born."**

 **"Girls, I assure you that I am who I say I am."**

 **"Well, then why did he tell us you died if you didn't?"**

 **"I'm not sure it is time to discuss your father's decisions. We are all just getting settled in and we can talk about it later," Mrs. Grimm said. Her eyes dropped to her lap.**

 **"Well if you really were our grandmother, I would think you'd be happy to discuss it," Sabrina snapped.**

Sabrina winced at her low blow. It was much worse than she had thought it had been at the time. She hated guilt trips, and using them against family members was something that she tried never to do.

"Sorry," she whispered in a barely there voice. Nobody heard her.

 **"Now is not the time," Mrs. Grimm said softly.**

 **Sabrina leaped up from her seat, sending her fork clanging to the floor. "Fine! I'm tired and want to go to bed."**

 **Mrs. Grimm frowned. "Of course,** _ **liebling**_ **. Your room is upstairs. I will show you—"**

 **"WE'LL FIND IT OURSELVES!"**

 **Sabrina walked around the table, grabbed Daphne's hand, and dragged her from her chair.**

 **"But I'm not done eating!" said Daphne.**

 **"You're never done eating. Let's go!" Sabrina commanded.**

And just like that, the tension was gone.

"Daphne's right, she's never done eating," Henry mumbled. "It's hard to pay for all the food."

Veronica laughed and hit her husband's shoulder, "Don't say that! Food is the cheapest thing. The horseback riding lessons however…"

Daphne flushed. "That was only for a month! And I never went back after the leaf incident."

"The leaf incident?" Puck asked curiously.

Daphne shook her head vehemently. "The leaf incident will never be mentioned again," she said forcefully.

 **She marched through the house and up the stairs with her sister in tow. At the top of the stairs they found a long hallway with five closed doors, two on each side and one at the end of the hallway. Sabrina yanked on the closest one, but it was locked tight. She turned and tried the door behind her. It opened to a bedroom decorated with dozens of wooden tribal masks, wild-eyed and smiling hideously. Two ancient swords were mounted on the wall alongside the masks, and there were pictures of Mrs. Grimm and her husband, Basil, everywhere. Like the ones downstairs, each photo was of a different part of the world. In one picture, Basil was standing at the top of an ancient stone temple; in another, the couple were guiding a gondola through what Sabrina guessed were Venetian canals.**

Granny Relda sighed wistfully. "Oh, how I miss traveling the world."

"You can travel again mom," Uncle Jake said. "You don't have to stay in this house all the time."

Granny Relda smiled but shook her head. "My traveling days are over. I'll leave them to you boys," she nodded at him and Puck.

 **She closed the door, realizing that this had to be the old woman's room. She tried the next door.**

 **Inside, Mr. Canis sat cross-legged on the floor, his hands resting on his knees. Several candles lit the nearly empty room, illuminating its sparse furnishings and a small woven mat on the floor.**

Sabrina sighed. "That's sounds so relaxing."

Mr. Canis nodded. "Indeed it is."

Red nodded and cheerfully said, "It's great! You should join us sometime Sabrina, it just takes all the stress away!"

Sabrina considered. "Alright, if it's ok with you, I'd love to."

 **There were no pictures or decorations at all. Mr. Canis opened his eyes and turned to look at the girls, his eyebrows arched.**

 **Sabrina slammed the door without apologizing. "What a nutcase," she muttered.**

Sabrina flushed. "Sorry Mr. Canis," she said. "That was rude of me."

"It's quite alright," he assured her.

 **The next door opened to a queen-sized, four-poster bed with their suitcases resting on top. Sabrina pulled Daphne inside and slammed the door.**

 **"That woman is hiding something!" she said.**

 **"You think everyone's hiding something."**

"And I was right," Sabrina said. "Granny Relda was hiding something very big from us."

"But it wasn't bad!" Daphne protested. "She was hiding something from us because it was unbelievable! Not because she was a murderer or something!"

"Cool motive, still hiding something," Sabrina said, tweaking the quote a little.

"You watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?" Puck asked.

"I've seen a few episodes," Sabrina lied through her teeth. She had never seen an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She barely knew what Brooklyn Nine-Nine was. That was just a popular quote on Tumbrl, where Sabrina had probably spent half of the five years since the war on.

 **"And you would hug the devil if he gave you cookies."**

"No I wouldn't!" Daphne protested. Sabrina shot her a skeptical look, but didn't say anything.

 **"Well, I like her!" said Daphne. She sat down on the bed and let out a Harrumph!**

 **Sabrina looked around the room. It was painted in soft yellow and had a slanted ceiling and a fireplace. A red ten-speed bicycle sat in the corner, an old baseball mitt rested on a desk, and several model airplanes hung from the ceiling. A nightstand sat next to the bed with an alarm clock perched on top. And on every wall were dozens of old photographs. A particularly large one showed two young boys staring out over the Hudson River.**

Puck raised an eyebrow. "You doing that lame old cop show thing?" He asked.

Sabrina glared at him and he put his hands up in surrender, probably not sure what he had done wrong.

 **Sabrina went to the window and looked out at the porch roof below. She could probably jump off it and then to the ground, but Daphne might hurt herself.**

Red's eyes widened. "Wow," she breathed. "Could you really do that?"

Sabrina shrugged. "Never know until you try. But yeah, I've done things like that to escape from foster families."

Veronica and Henry scowled and but he got back to reading before she said something.

 **"Let's give her a chance," Daphne begged.**

 **"A chance to what? Kill us in our sleep? Feed us to that monster dog of hers? No way!" Sabrina said.**

Elvis whined at the accusation and Daphne shot her a glare. "Elvis would never," she huffed.

"Yeah I know," Sabrina said. Feeling slightly foolish, she turned to the Great Dane and said, "Sorry Elvis."

 **"While you were shoveling in those meatballs did you ever think that they might be made from the last couple of kids she claimed she was related to?"**

Puck's eyes widened and he hopefully turned to Granny Relda. Before he could even open his mouth, she sighed and said, "No Puck, I have never cooked or ate any human being before."

Puck huffed, "That was not what I was going to ask," he said peevishly, but he refused to say what he allegedly really was going to ask.

 **Daphne rolled her eyes. "You're gross!"**

 **Suddenly Sabrina heard a faint whistling sound, almost like a flute, coming from outside the window.**

Puck's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You could hear that?"

"I have good ears," Sabrina said smugly, proud that she had surprised Puck. But she was angry, so, so angry. She remembered what Puck had tried to do to them with those bugs, and she was not looking forward to that pain. She doubted that Daphne was either.

 **She peered into the dark forest behind the house. At first she thought she had seen something or someone sitting in a tree, but when she rubbed her eyes for a clearer look there was nothing there.**

Puck nearly got whiplash turning to Sabrina so quickly. "You could _see_ me?"

"I was not titled the Queen of Sneaks for nothing," Sabrina said smirking.

 **Still, the music continued.**

 **"Where is that coming from?" she said.**

 **And like an answer to her question, a little light flickered outside the window. Sabrina thought it was a lightning bug. It flew up to the window as if it was trying to get a better view of her. It was joined by another light and the two danced around each other, zipping excitedly back and forth in the air.**

Daphne shot a glare at Puck. "It was pretty, but it was really mean!"

Puck shrugged uncaringly.

Hank raised an eyebrow. "What did he do?"

"You'll see," Daphne said, maintaining her adorable glare on Puck. "It comes up soon."

 **"Amazing," she said.**

 **Daphne rushed to the window. "They're so pretty," she whispered as dozens more lights joined the original two. Within seconds there were almost a hundred little lights blinking and flashing outside.**

"That sounds beautiful," Veronica said, but she was staring suspiciously at Puck. "But why would you give them such a show?"

Puck scratched the back of his head. "I was just trying to get to know them?" He offered.

Veronica looked disbelieving, but she didn't press for anymore details.

 **Without thinking, Sabrina reached up and unlocked the window.**

Henry shook his head. "Not a smart thing to do."

Sabrina shrugged. "Not like I knew that."

She didn't mean it to be a barb at her dad, but he took it that way. "You're right, sweetheart. I'm sorry for keeping this from you. It was stupid and we wouldn't have had so many problems if I told you before."

Sabrina gave him a shocked look. Her dad almost never apologized for keeping their heritage as fairy tale detectives from them, but when he did he truly meant it. "It's ok Dad," she said. "You were just doing what you thought best for us."

 **She just wanted to get a closer look, maybe grab a couple to keep in a jar in the room, but as she undid the window's latch, the bedroom door blew open with a crash.**

"Wait, wait, wait," Puck said. "Let me get this straight. You wanted to keep my pixies in a _jar_?"

"I thought that they were _fireflies_ ," Sabrina said defensively. "If I had known that they were pixies then I wouldn't have thought that!"

 **Startled, the sisters spun around and found Mr. Canis looming in the doorway.**

 **"Girls, you'll leave that window closed if you know what's good for you!" he growled.**

"That's the end to the chapter," Henry said.

Uncle Jake took the book from his brother. "I'll read next," he said.

Suddenly, the sound of a phone buzzing startled them. They had been so immersed in the story that they had forgotten that other people outside of them existed.

"Shit," Sabrina cursed. "I forgot to call Michael back."

Puck tensed beside her, but she hardly paid that any thought.

Her phone rested on the coffee table, so Sabrina had to gently move Basil onto his own bean bag. Basil was Daphne's brother in the way that he could sleep through anything.

Sabrina lunged for her phone and answered it. "Hey Michael! Sorry for not calling you back, we had to evacuate the house. You have no idea how bad Elvis is once he gets into the sausages."

" _Sabrina Grimm you will never guess what happened while you were dealing with your dog!"_ her best friends shrieked loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Sabrina flinched and moved the phone away from her ear. "C'mon Michael, you know how much it hurts when you yell into a phone. Why did you do that?"

" _THOMAS REID ASKED ME OUT!"_ Michael screamed even louder than before.

"What!?" Sabrina gasped. "Thomas Straight-As-A-Ruler Reid? From our school? In our grade?"

Well all of her suspicions about Thomas Reid were just proved correct. The boy was a fool if he didn't think that she had seen the hearts surrounding her best friend's name in his notebook.

" _Well as it turns out, he's about as straight as a bendy ruler,"_ Michael said smugly. Then, airily he said, " _He isn't the first man that I've turned, he will definitely not be the last. BUT SABRINA OH MY GOD DO YOU KNOW HOW EXCITING THIS IS?"_

Sabrina laughed, happy for her friend. "Well my whole family is here, and they can all hear you, so say congratulations everybody!"

"CONGRATULATIONS MICHAEL!" Daphne screamed at the top of her lungs. "I'm so happy for you! I have no idea who Thomas Straight-As-A-Bendy-Ruler is, but I'm sure you and him will be a great couple!"

" _Oh thank you Daphne,"_ Michael laughed.

"Yes, congratulations," Sabrina's dad said. Her mom echoed the sentiment.

"Congrats dude," Puck offered. He sounded relieved for some reason.

" _Sabrina who is that person with the voice like melted chocolate?"_ Michael demanded. Puck blinked then pointed to himself with a questioning look on his face. " _He sounds a little to happy for a gay person who he never met before. Is he related to you?"_

Sabrina flushed. "Michael no. Stop."

Michael sighed. " _Fine, fine. Anyways Sabrina, I will talk to you when you get back. You know how I feel about phone calls. I can never show my appropriate amount of enthusiasm without being scolded for yelling. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a boy to kiss."_

Michael hung up without giving Sabrina a chance to say goodbye. She rolled her eyes with a laugh. She didn't doubt that Michael was about to make out with possibly the cutest boy at their school.


End file.
